Letter: Cities should leave choice and curbside recycling to the private sector

The Davis Clipper

Jun 14, 2013 | 1111 views | 0 | 54 | |

Editor,

I’d like to focus on the recycling programs that are coming to our cities here in Davis County. Our city leaders have decided that they are going to force us to recycle by automatically signing us up for a curbside recycling program. They tout how much it will help the environment and how we all should do this for the future generations. However, we must put a stop to this!

Don’t get me wrong, recycling is something that we all should be doing, but to be forced is like adding another tax to every household in the community. Why can’t we make these decisions for ourselves?

One of the great blessings of living in America is that when society has a need then there will always be someone to fulfill it. Let the private sector do curbside recycling. The city doesn’t have to be involved at all!

Unfortunately, Kaysville, Farmington, Centerville, West Point, Sunset, North Salt Lake, and Bountiful already have opt-out recycling programs. Fruit Heights City is going through this adventure right now. At a recent city council meeting the city manager suggested that they subsidize the cost of curbside recycling for the next two years using a “surplus” in the garbage budget to keep the price under $4/month. Basically he would rather subsidize a nonessential service (which is already being provided by the private sector) just so the city can beat the price of the local small business that is servicing the area.

A “surplus in the garbage budget.” Here’s a novel idea, if city leaders ever come across a surplus then how about they give it back to the people that paid it in the first place! That would certainly make national headlines and the approval rating of the local government would soar. Instead, our politicians keep plugging away trying to make our lives “better”.

Leave the private sector alone. Small businesses are the lifeline of our community. Let’s help them grow instead of making them compete with the government.